


To be Connected

by orphan_account



Series: To Obtain Freedom [1]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: (They're a metaphor), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, But they're important, Gen, Is this an AU, Jenny stop, Kinda the main focus ahaha, M/M, OC relationships w/ Judar not rom, Other, Peach trees, Sakura/Cherry blossom trees, They're symbolic, idek, pretty OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4578498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judar doesn't know what he was thinking when he finds two children under a peach tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twins

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I will be using the name Judar.
> 
> Hi hi! So, this fic was mainly inspired by New Life by JustaTry and by the Zillullah AU by sushisama, because of their writing style and the way they established and portrayed Judar's relationship with himself and others had such a pull on my heart. Please check their work out if you haven't! 
> 
> This story is a long prologue which will help establish plot for the main story (yet to be published). 
> 
>  
> 
> New Life and Zillullah AU respectively:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3743965  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3230762

**_Two years ago_ **

 

It just happens to be one of those late nights where Judar feels the growing urge to leave his room after silently screaming into his pillow, clutching onto it for dear life. Eyes unfocused, body trembling, wanting it to just stop. _Stop it, stop it, stop it_ \- which end up unheard for the fleeting shadows that haunts his senses, memories painting the black space of his mind.

And just like a switch, he quickly realizes that he’s in his room, he’s safe, no one else around to witness his moment of weakness and that the memories were only just memories this time.

This one, rare, time.

Judar’s hands slowly loosen their grip on the pillow, to end up shakily combing through his hair, body coated with cold sweat. He breathes harshly through his nose, rising to a sitting position. A cool breeze enters through the window, and the Kou’s Oracle welcomes it, watching the moonlight pouring through. It was so gentle, it’s soft, white light relaxing his muscles, and Judar likes to think that the moon shines just a tad brighter on nights like these. The nights he could no longer sleep through, too scared of the dark, too scared of remembering, too scared of the fleeting shadows.

But he would never admit that out loud.

 

...he needed to escape the Kou Palace.

To escape the presence of Al-Thamen.

Away from the phantoms and their claws that had tried to suffocate him once more.

Just until morning.

 

So, after fighting against his shaking legs, he manages to hop onto his magic carpet and fly off. No real destination, just needing to leave for a while before being forced to turn back and show up for breakfast with the Ren family. Besides, it wasn’t like he hasn’t done it before.

He sure wasn’t going back to sleep anyways.

Leaning back on his hands, a deep, heavy sigh passed through Judar’s lips as he gazed at the stars above, slowly being swallowed up by the morning light. The wind carried him over an orchard of peach trees in a nearby village.

It was one of those peach trees that would land him in his future predicament.

 

Two high-pitched voices had caught the attention of the dark Magi, causing him to backtrack and float down in front of the source. The cries had come from a girl and a boy - twins, he realized  - haphazardly wrapped in a poor excuse of a blanket, though is was barely needed as it wasn’t too cold out. As Judar approached the children, they stopped their wailing, curiosity replacing the fear in their eyes. 

He managed to get the young girl and boy - now known as Akane and Aoi, respectively - to trust him enough to talk. Judar silently thanked the peach tree for giving him a peace offering. The three sat silently for a bit, enjoying the sweet fruit.

It was that moment where he asked if they had wanted to join him in sightseeing - “You can fly?!” - and began to glide on the wind currents, that the question of ‘where were their parents’ finally popped into mind. He sort of wished he didn’t ask. Because “Mommy said to stay here so she could talk to her friend,” “She’ll be back by sunset!” The twins had fallen asleep under the tree before then, waking up just before Judar passed over them.

Mommy never returned.

 

Hence, twenty minutes later where the children are crying in front of the Magi, who now wishes he didn’t say that he didn’t think mommy would ever come back - abandoning one’s child happened so often here, he shouldn’t have cared but those pairs of deep red and sky blue orbs had weighed heavily in his stomach - left him pulling on his hair out of frustration and slight panic.

Because Judar didn’t have siblings, wasn’t there when the Kou children were just babes, never had a mom around to comfort him, stopped crying in front of the ones who raised him when he turned four. He never allowed himself to cry, final.

But he wanted these two in front of him to stop. He wanted to help, someway, somehow. He wanted to tell them that even without mommy everything would be okay but he had no idea just how that was going to happen. So, Judar just softly spoke their names and brought them closer to his chest. Judar was never one to comfort, never had been comforted by anyone, but maybe, just maybe, hugging them and whispering that they would be okay over and over, could work.

It worked. Judar had began to rock them back and forth, lulling Akane and Aoi asleep. He didn’t know exactly what this motion did, only having remembered watching a mother do so with her baby upon one of his past trips during daytime. Whatever it did, it seemed to be working so he continued.

Looking down at the twins, a small, genuine smile - just why did the weight in his stomach suddenly disappear?  - was painted onto his lips before being washed away by a frown.

What to do now?

He couldn’t exactly bring them back with him without anyone finding out - like hell he’d allow those Al-Thamen bastards to lay their hands on them - but he really didn’t want to leave them back at the peach tree, nor did he want to leave them in front of someone else’s doorstep.

...Judar really needed to sleep, he wasn’t thinking straight. Why did he care what happened to people he didn’t even know? He stifled a yawn, decided eh, what the hell and there, problem solved.

A thought occurred to him, and then decides that he didn’t care if he was going to return to angry adults and harmless consequences, and headed south. There was a place that had peaked his interest many times before, with a strange pink-flowered tree and he might as well use this as an excuse for himself to not return to the Kou palace.

 

An excuse for himself to visit Sindria.


	2. Layla

It was nearing noon by the time Judar had reached his destination, having spent some time coaxing the country’s barrier open enough to allow all three of them inside without alerting that annoying big-boobed magician woman. And really, it wasn’t something the Dark Magi was used to - the majority of his visits being loud - very, very loud - and purposely announcing his presence to the castle’s inhabitants. But this time, for the first time, he had a personal goal for himself and actually acted upon it, and he’d like it if he could do it by himself.

_Because he’s only ever had himself, and even then, that wasn’t guaranteed._

“...Just what the hell am I doing?”

“Big brother?”

“What is a heell?”

“Akane, you don’t need to know that.”

“Ehh…”

Quickly, but cautiously, Judar headed away from the direction of  Sindria’s palace, ducking behind corners whenever he saw a guard, which slowly became fewer and fewer as his goal was just in front of him. Akane and Aoi were starting to nod off, one in each of Judar’s arm, his carpet rolled up and tied onto his back. He debated on leaving the thing just outside of the barrier, but decided to bring it just in case any of the guards - or Sinbad and his lackeys ended up finding it.

Judar slowed to a stop as he reached the entrance of his destination. High walls encased the land with the exception of the part allowing said entrance, a cobble path making it’s way down the courtyard all the way to the building near the end. The Magi noted that the structure of the building was very similar to the oriental designs of Kou. A gentle breeze snapped the brunette from his observation, and noticed tiny, pink leaves that accompanied the wind. He made his way across and up the small stairs to the sliding doors, only to reflexively step backwards as they started to slide open.

Judar immediately tensed up, only to slowly relax just a tad when Akane started to whimper. The teen watched her for a moment, before quietly sighing as the little girl slumbered on.

“Well, this is an interesting sight.”

Damn. He let his guard down. Judar jumped further away from the door, head snapping up to make eye contact with...this was interesting.

He had to admit, after passing over and by this house so many times before, he had assumed that some old person lived there, or possibly, one of the Great Eight Generals.

Instead, the Magi was met with a middle-aged woman, long black silk for hair contrasting against her pale skin, reaching down to her hips, clothed by a simple white dress. But her eyes were what rendered Judar speechless. Carmine eyes that were half closed due to the woman chuckling, but just so similar to Judar’s that for a brief second, he thought that he was only now meeting his mother.

The woman in front of him quirked an eyebrow up, her smile still present as she turned to head back inside.

“You can come in, you know.”   

Judar shook his head, returning from his state of shock, then gave a short nod and followed her inside.

 

* * *

 

Entering the household and setting his carpet aside, Judar could hear the muffled voices and the patter of many, tiny footsteps. The children. The magi had seen a group of them playing in front of the house multiple times before and had found out through Hakuryuu that these places were called ‘orphanages.’ Looking back, it was the first time that the Prince had ever seen Judar so genuinely surprised.

And with good reason. Being raised in such a violent, twisted environment, it never occurred to the young magi that there were people in the world that actually took in stranded/abandoned children for the sake of protecting them, raising them. He grew up believing that those kids either ended up becoming enslaved, or living on the streets and stealing what they could in order to survive. He didn’t know that they could be sheltered from those lifestyles, that they could still have a normal-ish life.

A life he couldn’t nor ever experience.

A life that he fervently denied ever longing for, though deep inside he knew he felt jealousy towards those children.

Judar spent the rest of that week cooped up in the library, teaching himself about life outside of destruction and war. About humanity and their sense of right and wrong, the things that were considered to be common sense when the Dark Magi never knew anything of it. He had found out about a lifestyle he could never hope to obtain because he was owned by Al-Thamen and there was no escape, no light at the end of the tunnel.

Abandoning his research in worry of drowning in his thoughts once again, Judar had ran off to play with the idiot King, to distract him from the new-found reality.

“Shit,”

Judar muttered as he had almost crashed into the woman, haven’t noticing that she had paused to open the door of the room in front of them. The lady chuckled before stepping aside.

“You can let the children sleep in here while we talk, or would you prefer it if they were with you?”

The teen shook his head, “They can stay here.”

 

* * *

 

After making sure that Akane and Aoi were settled in, Judar silently left the room only to find that the owner was gone. Finding that she wasn’t nearby after walking up and down the hallway, the magi passed through one of the doors and out onto the outdoor hallway, towards the children’s voices. Sure enough, he found her sitting on the boards with an orange-haired girl in her arms, keeping on eye on the others playing in the garden.

The girl perked her head up noticing Judar and quickly ducked back down, whimpering. Judar froze.

“Misao, it’s okay. That big brother over there won’t hurt you,” the woman reassured the girl, who slowly raised her head and stared at Judal before making her way over to him and sticking her hand out.

“I’m Misao! Nice to meet you big brother!”

Judar had unknowingly held in his breath before squatting down in front of the kid and shook her hand.

“...I’m not your big brother, I’m Judar.”

“Ju...darl?” The girl stuck her tongue out and tried again, “Ju-Judar.”

A small smile appeared on the Magi’s face as the girl grinned again.

Hearing one of the other kids call out to her and after saying a quick, “Big brother can come and play later,” she was off, not giving the magi a chance to respond.

“So,” the woman began, patting the deck in gesture of inviting Judar to sit, “what’s Kou’s Oracle doing in Sindria - with two little ones no less - for the third time this month?”

“...”

“Oh come now, I know all about you and your little escapades to, 'visit,' Sinbad - he’s an old friend of mine.”

“Of the Idiot King?”

Judar gives a start as the woman suddenly laughed.

“ ‘Idiot King,’ huh? I thought that I was the only one who said that aloud!”

Judar joined in with her giggling, feeling the air between them become more comfortable and light. The two of them sighed as they calmed down.  

“And so? It’s rare for you to visit so frequently - unless you’ve taken a babysitting job so far away from home.”

Judar sneered,  “Like hell I would,” which prompted another chuckle from beside him.

“...I found them.”

“Hmm, just now?”

The magi frowned, “No, in Kou. They were abandoned.”

“...I see. So you flew all the way out to the coast to have me take care of them?”

“Isn’t this what this place is for? An orphanage?”

“Well, I guess it’s what people would normally call this place as, but here,”

Black locks flowed behind the woman as she turned to look at the teen.

“we call this place, ‘home.’ We’re a family.”

 

An image of the Kou children flashed across Judar’s mind.

 

“You’re a family, even though you’re not their real mother?”

“Even though. Family isn’t just being part of the same bloodline. It’s where the people you hold dear to you are - even if you’re far apart. But for us, it’s this house.”

 

“...‘home,’ huh?”

 

The woman slowly stood up.

“Mhm. So, I’d be more than happy to take those twins in, but under one condition.”

Judar raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You will come and visit them and the other children when you can.”

Quickly rising to his feet, to follow after her, the magi began to protest, “But I -”

_I just wanted to leave them here._

_I didn’t plan to get caught._

_I shouldn’t see them - no I shouldn’t care about them in the first place!_

_I shouldn’t be here. I -_

_I do not care. I, I -_

_Dammit why -_

 

“You came to me for help, but, _you_ were the one to find them - to convince them to come to a new place - to trust you in that you will take care of them. Until they can become familiar with myself and the children, you need to help warm those two up to this new environment.”

She stopped in front of the room where the twins were still sleeping.

“So, starting tonight, to two or three weeks after, will you come over? It’ll be more than enough time to get the kids accustomed to here. Then after those two to three weeks are up, you can go back to being Kou’s Oracle.”

Judar flinched, not noticing she was looking back at him over her shoulder. She sighed.

“So, what will you do? Or are you able to take care of them yourself in that empire? My, I didn’t think that a Magi had so little to do.”

 

_...This woman..._

 

“Why you -”

“Ah-ah-ah, the children are still able to hear you.”

“Tch. I’ll...I’ll come over - but only because I can’t bring them back.”

The smile on her face grew wider - _‘and just how was that even possible? Her face must hurt like hell every night from doing that. Is it so important to do it in front of the children?_

_...in front of me?_

_Hah...don't be stupid.’_

 

“Layla.”

“Ah?”

“My name is Layla. It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Judar.”

“...You’re a strange woman.”

“Why thank you, dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to get this idea in my head which turned into a dream out and now I really want to write angsty Judar/Judal. As I was planning this out and picking apart my dream I realized that this could actually be a long series, so hopefully this turns out alright? Let me know in the comments below!


End file.
